Earlier this month, the institute welcomed a delegation from the China Population and Development Research Center (CPDRC), leading population research institution in China. Researchers from the IIASA Population and Just Societies Program (POPJUS) and CPDRC discussed declining fertility rates in China and future cooperation.
The delegation included CPDRC Director General Dan He, senior researcher Cuiling Zhang, and associate researchers Houlian Liu and Danyin Wang. They expressed an interest in learning more about the IIASA POPJUS Program, in particular, with regard to research on multi-dimensional demographic modeling, population, and human capital. The CPDRC plays an important role in advising the government about population issues.
The delegation met with IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber, IIASA Deputy Director General Karen Lips, Head of Communications and External Relations Barbara Kreissler, and IIASA POPJUS Program Director Anne Goujon, and several POPJUS researchers.
The participants discussed the declining fertility rates in China and human capital change projections. The delegates highlighted potential opportunities to collaborate with IIASA with regard to projecting the population in China at sub-national level, as well as in internal migration forecasting and population development. They also expressed interest in the new measures of ageing introduced by Sergei Scherbov, a distinguished emeritus research scholar in the IIASA POPJUS Program.
IIASA and CPDRC discussed opportunities and directions for future co-operation between the two organizations. Finally, CPDRC offered to organize a parallel session with IIASA during the yearly international Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals.
The CPDRC is involved in training researchers, government employees, and students in demographic and projection methods. The Center highlighted this as a potential area for collaboration, expressing a keen interest to exchange multidimensional projection methodologies.
IIASA looks forward to cooperating with CPDRC in the future, working collectively to improve the quality of demographic research and modeling.